Where does anger come from in the brain?

Anger, similar to fear, is a response to threats or stressors in your external environment that cause you to take notice and feel the need to protect yourself. When you’re in a situation that you perceive a threat, and you feel like you are backed into a corner, so to speak, you’ll likely respond with anger or aggression. You can think of the anger response and the fight as part of the fight-or-flight response.  While anger is a surface response that everyone feels, other emotions such as frustration feel very similar to anger but may not be as intense.

Anger starts in the brain with the amygdala, an almond-shaped part of the brain, alerting the hypothalamus, very much the same as it would in the fear response.  Parts of the prefrontal cortex may also play a role in anger. People with damage to this area often have trouble controlling their emotions, especially anger and aggression.  The prefrontal cortex of the brain may also contribute to the regulation of anger response. People with damage to this area of the brain sometimes have difficulty controlling their emotions, particularly anger and aggression.   People who have a traumatic brain injury or any history of brain surgery could experience this in the form of impulsiveness, not being able to filter their responses, and not pick up on social cues.

There are many ways to trigger this anger response in an individual.  For some, their memories alone can often trigger an anger response.  For others, external sources can trigger this response.  This can include pictures, songs, people they may see, conversations they may have, or anything else that triggers this process.  People who have post-traumatic stress disorder often find that their response to triggers may be anger even when they are actually feeling fear.  It is difficult to understand where it comes from and how our brain works, but the good news is that you can overcome and manage these feelings with specialized care and classes.